Bonfire won't return to Texas A&M in 2002

Posted: Tuesday, February 05, 2002

From staff and wire reports

COLLEGE STATION - Texas A&M University's nearly century-old bonfire tradition - on hold since a deadly collapse in 1999 - will not be resurrected in the fall, school president Ray Bowen announced Monday.

"I'm still determined that the horror of that day will never visit our campus again," Bowen said, adding that there are other ways for Aggies to show their spirit. "My heart wanted to continue the bonfire but I had to let my brain make the decision."

The 90-year-old bonfire tradition was suspended after 12 Aggies were killed and 27 others injured when the 59-foot-high, wedding cake-style stack of more than 5,000 logs collapsed Nov. 18, 1999 while under construction.

The bonfire traditionally has been lighted on the eve of A&M's football game against the University of Texas, its archrival.

Schuyler Houser: Texas A&M student body president cries as she discusses the bonfire.

Bowen said he looked at three issues: a professionally created safety plan, the cost and future legal liability.

He said safety was a chief issue and noted a firm the school hired to develop a safety plan pulled out last week, citing liability costs and concerns. Bowen estimated it would cost $2.5 million to resume the bonfire this year and then some $1.3 million in future years. Previous bonfires had cost $65,000 to $75,000.

"Our community wants a bonfire," Bowen said. "I wish I could make it happen. There will not be a bonfire in 2002."

Some Amarillo Aggies said the decision is understandable.

Gary Moore, a 1974 graduate who participated in bonfire activities as a student, said he respects the decision.

"I'm disappointed that the bonfire situation happened at all," he said. "If we can't have something that is safe and the students can participate in, what is the point?"

Moore said he expects students will find a way to rework the bonfire in a safe way that still includes students.

"I'd love to have bonfire, but we want a safe bonfire," he said.

Robyn Skelton graduated in 1981 and returned to complete her master's degree in 1991. She said she understands the decision.

"I hate it because it is such a tradition, but I understand it because of the safety concerns," she said.

Skelton said the university should find a way to bring back the fire before students take the activity off campus where there would be no way to monitor safety.

"It needs to be safe," she said. "Just because we've always done it that way doesn't mean there can't be changes."

Stacie Higgins, a 1990 graduate, said the bonfire is only one of A&M's traditions.

"A&M is not just based on bonfire," she said. "We have so many other traditions that make A&M what it is."

Higgins said the decision is understandable.

"It's a time-honored tradition that promotes unity among students and former students, but until it can be designed effectively and all the criteria met that it can be a safe activity for everyone, I understand the reason for not continuing bonfire at this point," she said.

Higgins said she attended the bonfire while at A&M and her husband, Shawn, a 1992 graduate, helped cut and stack the logs.

A&M students listening to the school president buzzed in disbelief. About 10 students who were among the 60 to 70 school officials and reporters in the room where Bowen spoke walked out before he finished his remarks.

"Today, as it will for many of you, it feels like everything fell down again," Schuyler Houser, A&M's student body president, said, crying as she spoke. "Bonfire is an amazing memory for those us who knew it. For me, I realized that's what it's going to be."

Bowen said the conditions he laid out in June 2000 about the prospects for the bonfire's return have not been met.

"As I judge the facts today, without an acceptable safety plan, the limited role that has been preserved for students, namely implementation, still carries a danger above what we can tolerate," he said. "Also, as we struggle to reach our safety goals, the costs grow beyond our reach. Finally, another driver for costs is the management of legal liability."

He acknowledged his decision would be unpopular.

"I fully understand that my decision today might result in expressions of emotion, some of which will be directed at me," he said. "I do not know how to avoid these reactions.

"I am also emotionally caught up in the idea that the bonfire is a great tradition. I am sad today that I am compelled to make a difficult decision. I am sad for our students and for our university... Nobody is happy today."

Hundreds of students had gathered in a viewing area in an auditorium and in an adjacent lounge area to watch the announcement over large-screen televisions.

"I learned more applicable life skills in cut, load and stack than in all of my classes," said Marc Barringer, 32, a political science major, referring to his work on the logs for the 1991 bonfire.

"I wanted the bonfire but not the safety," Robert Moore, 22, an aerospace engineering student from Longview, said. "As a student, I'm here to have a good time. And safety is just a killjoy."

Bowen plans to return to teaching and retire in June as Texas A&M president, leaving the future of the bonfire to his successor.

"Every time we discuss any aspect of the bonfire, the families of the victims are forced to relive the horror of that day," Bowen said. "I am sorry that today we are adding to their sadness. I accepted responsibility for what happens at Texas A&M University. Today, I am exercising this responsibility."

An A&M commission blamed the collapse on flawed construction techniques and the lack of adequate supervision of students assembling the stack. The report did not single out anyone for blame.

A Bonfire Steering Committee, following Bowen's June 2000 directive that the bonfire would not return unless it was professionally designed and safely built, has been working since then to create a plan.

Seventeen designs for the revamped bonfire were submitted to the committee. It narrowed them down to three, which were reviewed by students and others, before choosing the finalist.

The design, which looks like the three-tier wedding cake-like shape traditionally used for bonfire, was submitted to Bowen.

A campus-wide survey of students conducted last month found that 92 percent favored continuing bonfire and 97 percent of those favored the wedding cake-like design. Of the university's nearly 42,000 students, about 12,000 participated in the survey.

A survey of 18,164 former students found that 72 percent believed the tradition should continue.

However, many Aggies have felt the changes made to bonfire - particularly the elimination of the cutting by students of logs used to build the bonfire - already have destroyed the tradition's relevance. Log cutting would be done by lumber companies.

The families of at least six Aggies who died and five who were injured have filed lawsuits in either state court, federal court or both. The school has assisted families with at least $550,000 to cover expenses for medical bills and funeral expenses.

The lawsuits, which claimed negligence on the part of A&M administrators and former bonfire student leaders, have added to the doubt about the tradition's future.

"We are an academic institution of exceptional quality," Bowen said. "We will do nothing which diminishes this fact... The bonfire is not the defining characteristic of Texas A&M University."